I pulled myself together and headed out, arriving at Canary Wharf at 3 pm and tucking in to the effort straight away. The stations are closely spaced near this financial district and Heron Quays, South Quay, and Crossharbour fell in about a mile’s worth of jogging. Mudchute — long one of my favourite station names — turned up only slightly further on.

Canary Wharf DLR

Heron Quays

South Quay

Crossharbour

Mudchute

Cutting through Mudchute Park and Milwall Park, the last of the Isle of Dogs stations, Island Gardens, appeared with its unsympathetic architecture:

Island Gardens

This is the third time in as many weeks I’ve covered the span between Island Gardens and Cutty Sark Stations (see Thames Foot Tunnel section of the Westferry to New Cross Run but also represented in the subsequent North Greenwich to Stratford Run). In fact, several other segments of the DLR could have been ticked off earlier in the project on one of those earlier runs save that they were focused on the Jubilee line which doesn’t overlap (despite the pedestrian pathways to cover those Jubilee segments overlapping the rail pathways of the DLR).

More closely spaced stations followed the Tunnel, with Cutty Sark, Greenwich, and Deptford Bridge next up:

Cutty Sark

Greenwich DLR

Deptford Bridge

Here, I nipped into the Bird’s Nest for a nip and some nostalgia (the place was like every music bar I frequented in the late 70s and early 80s). Despite my early delays, I suddenly realised that it was a gorgeous day out, about 16°C, and there were about 2 hours to kill before either sunset or my last train home to outrun the wife. I settled into the final two stations and cast my eye on the lovely neighbourhoods down this way. Elverson Road Station, the penultimate, followed a stretch of parkland and sits adjacent to some very nice terraces:

Elverson Road

I followed some bike paths and found myself in a dead-end car park surrounded by flats. Emerging from here, I turned away from Lewisham Station for a final TfL Run Project beer at the Rising Sun (write-up soon), before heading home as the temperature started falling with the setting sun. There was snow overnight, but this positively Spring-like day was a spectacular finish to this effort.

With the Canary Wharf to Lewisham Run, yesterday (write-up soon) the TfL Run Project is now complete.

It took 124 days and not the 3 years envisioned (largely due to the decision, two days before the project kicked off, to seek employment somewhere affordable to live and the urgency on finishing the project that decision imposed), but the TfL Run Project is now complete. I’ve promised not to start a new project until we move, which might be some time.

Sunday morning found me clearing up some of the last remaining segments of the TfL Run Project starting with the lone bit of the Jubilee Line I was meant to finish LAST weekend. After that, the run continued along the DLR to Stratford. Here are some pictures and a sketchy description of the effort.

Today’s segments

At North Greenwich Station, a notice board for the C2C fest (which celebrates the insipid pop music that people have started labeling “Country” because the songs are occasionally sung by people with Southern accents and the lyrics sometimes contain references to dogs, momma, and/or trucks) was dense with text and bereft of information. Vapid and smug, it is an apt metaphor for that branch of the music industry as well as for the blog you now read (which is written by someone afflicted with a Southern accent and will occasionally write about cats, the hopes that his parents are burning in a Hell that he doesn’t believe exists, and public transportation).

North Greenwich

It is a long slog to the Thames Foot Tunnel, but early morning affords a chance to admire the Cutty Sark before tourists (other tourists, that is) start milling around reading shit on their phones.

The news crawler adjacent to Canary Wharf Station is a personal favourite feature of this bleak part of town:

Canary Wharf

And, now the Jubilee Line has fallen.

From there, the Docklands Light Rail received attention. I could have run toward Lewisham but wanted to save it for an afternoon jog; so, my next target was West India Quay Station:

West India Quay

Like the area around Cutty Sark, this bit is usually crawling — inexplicably — with tourists and further polluted with bankers and other suits. You might otherwise forget that the quays constitute a working port, as well.

There was a scary, temporary stairs and foot bridge made of scaffolding yielding access to Poplar Station. I probably lost five minutes carefully traversing this rickety structure and almost forgot to shoot the photo once I reached the far side.

Poplar

Richard Green, “Shipowner and Philanthropist,” sits with his dog in front of the recently refurbished Poplar Public Baths. The link says that the dog is missing an ear because a boy climbing on the statue got stuck and the ear needed to be cut away to free him. This is hard to understand: there is only one of this statue and, from casual observation, this neighbourhood is infested with children. Why not leave him there for the gulls and other carrion eaters … and as a cautionary example to the others?

All Saints is yet another blight on the blighted landscape:

All Saints

These pop up around here all too frequently. The stairwell is not attached to any structure nearby:

A workmanlike section followed with Langdon Park, Devons Road, Bow Church, and the wonderfully named Pudding Mill Lane stations ticked off the list:

Langdon Park

Devons Road

Bow Church

Pudding Mill Lane

Despite footpath closures, I found my way to the Goldengrove (write-up soon) and the diversion delayed my arrival there until just past 9 (so the bar was open). I then doubled back down to Stratford Station completing this trip with a stop at a hotdog stand for The Daily Sandwich (yes, that is still on): fried egg, two rashers of bacon, a Cumberland sausage, fried onions, and chilli sauce.

The only TfL run of the week, last week, was Sunday morning’s failed attempt to finish the Jubilee Line after finishing a pesky section of the DLR.

I took the Tube to Bank then switched to the Docklands Light Rail. A lot of runners (with their numbered bibs) were riding the Central Line in both directions and also changed at Bank but I was happy to see they were heading elsewhere. I saw even more of them on the opposite platforms up to Westferry Station where I alighted to start my own run. Along the way, there seemed to be even more of them out warming up and swarming into Poplar Station.

Westferry

Poplar

As noted, they were going the other way; but, it soon became obvious I was tracking the course of whatever race they had signed up for.

These stations have hidden signage, but I found the Blackwall Station marker in the photo later on.

I never found a sign for East India Station, instead confirming its identity by crossroads on the map (a sort of cartographic dental record).

East India

I’m always flabbergasted by the stories of Victoria Cross (and, in the States, Medal of Honor) awardees. Lance Corporal Charles Graham Robertson VC MM story is worth a quick read, either at the more detailed link or on this memorial at the station.

I planned to follow Bow Creek to the right of the big bend, seen here at low tide. There was construction hoarding blocking the way and I had to double back and follow around to the left, instead.

This detour brought me to the bridge to nowhere.

Canning Town Station splits inside to DLR and Underground bits, but from outside it registers the end of my DLR journey for the day as I left on the long stretch to North Greenwich station.

Canning Town

Many sights along the way … like an old hospital’s remaining façade (thematic accompaniment to the earlier bridge?)

The Thames Foot Tunnel is the way off the Isle of Dogs:

North side

In side

South side

The Greenwich Meridian as I crossed into the Eastern Hemisphere:

Yet more signs of the run appeared … shit. Finally, I asked a volunteer who identified it as “The Big Half.”

Even at high tide this pier seems too high:

North Greenwich Station — with the Millennium Dome adjacent — finally appeared. I retraced my steps, sort of, back into Greenwich, proper.

North Greenwich

As I mentioned earlier, my intent was to finish the Jubilee Line today but Sir Mo and my shitty internal compass were having none of it. I struggled to find my way through the barricades separating civilians from racers and, in addition, I struggled to find the Gate Clock pub (write-up soon) where I hoped to take a brief break before doing the last 2 miles or so to Canary Wharf.

Instead, I convinced myself to go in precisely the wrong direction. I should have realised I was delving deeper into the South when I was menaced by this marionette with a knife in one hand and a petrol bomb in the other. This was probably the worst Cirque de Soleil character yet:

The system map is down to one or, more likely, two runs to completion:

I’ve complained about the cold frequently this year but we are now a few days into and the chill is brutal. But, Sunday was sunny and I had a thing to do in Brixton and — scheduling with my trading partner being what it is — I only got an early afternoon start to the only TfL run this weekend.

I timed my travel to Clapham North (and, therefore, Clapham High Street) to allow a ten minute run and cider purchase at our usual de facto market. Unfortunately, the Byzantine trading rules we each brought to the endeavour found us changing venue a bit south. Hey ho!

Clapham High Street

A bit of socialising after business had to be cut short and I moved on with a further stop at the Fox on the Hill (write-up soon) and some grand site seeing with this lovely Art Deco brickwork on a nearby housing estate.

I thought this wall was part of a tattoo parlour but it appears to just be for its own sake.

Eventually, Denmark Hill passed.

Denmark Hill

A statue of Catherine Booth adorns the front of the Salvation Army arsenal:

Always looking for metaphor and synchronicity, shortly after the Sallie Army sighting there were these sculptures of a wolf stalking a ram. Read it however you want (there’s an easy gentrification connection here, too).

Peckham Rye, one of my favourite stations since it reminds me so much of Kraainnest in De Bijlmer, required a bit of walking to navigate the crowded pavements. After that, it was smooth running well past Queen’s Road Peckham.

Peckham Rye

Queen’s Road Peckham

The Asylum Tavern (write-up soon), a pub buried in a park-like street at the edge of the council estates, was a treasure on the way to Surrey Quays and, finally, New Cross.

Surrey Quays

New Cross

That, then, is the last of the Overground.

There remains an exceptionally long run to complete the system (and probably two runs at my current level of fitness and motivation). Here’s this last bits:

The timing for Sunday’s TfL Run was different from Saturday’s in that both days I had things to do before noon but there were no early-opening pubs on the route Saturday. A slight detour at the end of this run fixed that issue.

Like the day before, I got a start from Mill Hill Broadway, the end-of-the-line for the 114 bus. Noted today, the route includes a scamper along Bunns Lane (a good omen).

In good time, I reached Finchley Central Station and turned north up the Northern Line.

Finchley Central

Another good omen — or sound advice at the very least — was delivered by this graffito:

The stations are closely packed in this section and West Finchley appeared quickly.

West Finchley

The chain link fence notwithstanding, the path along the railway is fairly pleasant.

Woodside Park Station extends down the path a bit.

Woodside Park

The last of the short segments is uphill to the beautiful old shopping centre of Station Parade, adjacent to Totteridge & Whetstone Station.

Totteridge & Whetstone

At this point, I veered off toward the nearest Wetherspoons, the Railway Bell at New Barnet (write-up soon). Near the bar but on the wrong side of the tracks, this war memorial stands:

The angel on the orb is sublime, but …

I really like the lion’s head framed with sunbeams by the “We Will Remember Them” inscription.

After a quick breakfast and beer, I completed the run at High Barnet.

High Barnet

This also completes the Northern Line (hooray!):

Here is what remains of the system:

It is getting hard to find that remaining overlay on the full system map:

Saturday morning brought a desire to do some damage to the remaining bits of the TfL Run Project. The Northern Line and the Overground have lingered long in this effort and I left the house before sunrise on a bus to Mill Hill Broadway to start.

From beneath the bleak M1 Motorway flyover where the bus terminated, I ran.

Several things made me laugh about this:

Shortly, Mill Hill East emerged and the first segment of the day began.

Mill Hill East

This railway bridge is fairly impressive:

Finchley Central, East Finchley, and Highgate Stations soaked in the sunrise:

Finchley Central

East Finchley

Highgate

and, a second, more impressive bridge presented itself:

Archway was a bit hard to find (I stood with an advert display between me and the station looking everywhere except where it sits). Tufnell Park was a little more obvious:

Archway

Tufnell Park

I wasn’t sure this place actually existed, but there it was (and is): the Ladies & Gents Bar house in a former public toilet (definitely on the short list, now):

Kentish Town and Camden Town were the last of the Northern Line for the day:

Kentish Town

Camden Town

From there, I looped back up to Gospel Oak to fill in a little of the Overground:

On the way to Gospel Oak, this old public bath, pool, and sauna looked awesome in the early-morning, mid-winter light:

Gospel Oak

Kentish Town West, Camden Road, and Caledonian Road & Barnesbury stood between me and the finish: